Nickel and Tin
by ali-lou
Summary: Wuthering Heights. Hindley and Heathcliff talk about Catherine. Heathcliff harbours the false hope that they will be together forever. OneShot


Hi! Okay, this is just a one-shot conversation between Heathcliff and Hindley, personally, I feel it is one of the strongest pieces I have ever written, but you be the judge! Read, Enjoy (hopefully)and Review

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Hindley's head hit the floor and as he lifted it slightly, craning his neck to see his opponent more clearly he could already see Heathcliff descending on him menacingly, Hindley flinched in anticipation of another blow but was taken aback when Heathcliff just stared down gravely, as if daring him to show any sign of opposition or defiance. As Heathcliff turned away looking satisfied, Hindley spat at him viciously.

"My sister is unmanageable, she's reckless and wild. Catherine is, by nature, no more worthy of the Linton's trust than even you" Hindley laughed cruelly as he spoke "How ironic, the two of you are perfectly suited to one another and yet you'll never deserve her, you will never be good enough for her. Catherine will never really belong to you"

"She's mine" Heathcliff's fury at Hindleys statement resounded throughout the empty house. "She's mine already, she always has been and she always will be. Catherine is what I am, she's part of me, she is the air I breathe, the blood that flows through my veins, without her I would be nothing and she feels the same of me." Heathcliff's eyes flashed angrily and his voice became eerily quiet "It is not enough just to live Hindley, it is never enough to just eat and sleep, that is merely existing, it's the difference between a lark and a currant tree, the tree exists, it moves in the wind, affected by what's going on around it but it doesn't really live, it doesn't love or hate. The lark flies across the moors, it thinks, it needs, it lives Hindley. You exist like the tree, everyone here does, ignorant and spiritless they aren't like Catherine and me, we're unrestrained and free like the lark."

"Lark or not, it's foolhardy of you to try to love her, when you know your love is insufficient. The Lintons would tell you that love is the most valuable thing in this world and that love is beautiful, because that's what civilized people say, that's what they take from their readings and their sheltered lives, but the funny thing is that it is them who proves themselves wrong. Edgar knows as well as anyone that status and ancestry will win out in the end. Catherine cannot be with you, you are beneath her. Catherine is as good as a Linton already as far as you're concerned."

At that second mention of the Lintons Heathcliff cut in angrily "She's not, she never will be, she's fierce and free, as far as the world is concerned she's irredeemable and that's how she wants to be, that's how I want her to be"

"Irredeemable?" Hindley questioned roughly "I'd wager Edgar Linton doesn't think so, you on the other hand Heathcliff, you will never belong to Cathy's world, you can dream and cry and proclaim your spirits to be one and the same but the Lintons see Cathy as a slightly wild but still beautiful girl, untamed but not out of reach, they see you as nothing more than a dog, even less than a dog perhaps. Probably to them you are an undomesticated savage. Catherine is by birth not like you at all, but like the Lintons"

"Maybe she is _like_ the Lintons but she _is_ me, our connection is irreversible, our souls belonged to each other before we even met."

"In this world it is your name that matters, your lineage is everything, well Catherine's is everything, I should say that yours is nothing, you're just an orphan, you were born of dust and mud as far as we know and I shouldn't be surprised if it were so. Even if you were the best-natured man alive you'd mean nothing to anyone so it doesn't help that you behave like a wild animal, a violent one at that, a lion"

"If I am but a lion to Edgar I'll rip him apart"

"He'll merely have his staff skin you, your pelt will be forever on display at Thrushcross Grange, Now that I've thought of it I can see that maybe being skinned wouldn't be such a bad fate for you if you love Catherine so much, it's the only way you'll ever be worthy of stepping one foot into Thrushcross Grange. Wuthering Heights is a desolate, draughty shack in comparison to the splendour of the Grange. I hate Wuthering Heights and you're of such lowly descent that you aren't even good enough to deserve to live here"

Heathcliff gave Hindley a scornful glare and he turned to the door as if to leave before speaking quietly

"You're wrong about everything, Catherine and I will not be a mere illusion our love will overcome this, we will overcome everything, she is above all of this, she is above Thrushcross Grange and as such so am I. Edgar's civilised rules and hierarchies won't affect us, she'll be mine and I'll be hers until we're both dead in the ground. You say you hate Wuthering Heights but you understand it so little, Wuthering Heights isn't like Thrushcross Grange, it's not painstakingly maintained and as such it isn't separate from the land. Thrushcross Grange is an imposter here but Wuthering Heights belongs to the moors, it's turbulent and tempestuous like the wind, Cathy is like the wind too and I am her Wuthering Heights, I am an extension of her just as Wuthering Heights is an extension of the moors. The moors and the wind and the hills are bound to each other like Catherine and I and we both belong to the moors too, the wild, untamed moors, all of it is a million miles away from anything else in this world, Edgar and Thrushcross Grange will be beneath us because we are everything. Catherine and I are the whole world, I don't need anyone else except her and the wind and the moors, I don't even need myself. Don't talk about Catherine marrying Edgar or Thrushcross Grange because both of them are inconsequential. Catherine is mine and she always, always will be.


End file.
